Morgan joined other scholars on a panel held in memory of her late friend and colleague Bénédicte Monicat (Penn State). Morgan’s paper, “Berthe Mariani, ‘demi-femme de lettres’ and ‘femme d’esprit,’” continues her work on French women’s contributions to humor culture in the long nineteenth century. Berthe Mariani (1844-1911) is remembered today primarily as a Paris actress and composer immortalized in Charles Reutlinger photographs. These publicity images give no hint that Mariani was, as contemporary author Adolphie Belot described her in 1885, a “demi-femme de lettres et surtout une femme d’esprit” (half woman of letters and half woman of wit).
Morgan explores Mariani’s humor and farcical turn of mind by looking at a number of examples demonstrating that she was more than a popular performer: Mariani participated in the monthly supper club Les Rieuses (The Merry Women), founded in 1879 by a group of actresses seeking fun and female sociability; she contributed a satirical piece to the 1884 exhibition of Les Incohérents; finally, at the turn of the century Mariani joined up with Jeanne Landre, a rising literary light of Montmartre’s bohemia, to co-write the fictional memoirs of two politically opposed and aging demi-mondaines. This 1902 tell-all novel, Enfin seules!...papotages amoureux et rétrospectifs provides the best confirmation of Mariani’s playful creativity.
Posted December 22, 2025
